Self-organizing turn base games and social activities on a computer network

ABSTRACT

In accordance with the present invention, a method for creating a system of self-organizing colonies of players engaged in turn based games and other social activities performed within a web browser is provided. The approach described here partitions the game site population into distinct colonies with the appropriate activities and design such that the players create a community environment. Playing online games and chatting are examples of social networking activities; therefore, an invention that combines self-organizing capabilities to these activities will enhance the social experience. Essentially, the notion becomes a game within a game where the players change aspects of the rules governing the site and the games themselves. In particular, tests have demonstrated that game players create their own distinct communities just as thermodynamic theory predicts.

REFERENCES CITED Related U.S. Application Data

Provisional Application 60/723,963 filed on Oct. 6, 2005.

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application60/723,963 filed on Oct. 6, 2005, entitled “Self-Organizing Turn BasedGames and Social Activities on a Computer Network.”

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

-   Ashby W. R. (1962): “Principles of the Self-Organizing System,” in:    Principles of Self-Organization. von Foerster H. & Zopf G. W. (eds.)    (Pergamon, Oxford), p. 255-278.-   Eigen M. and Schuster P. (1979): The Hypercycle: A principle of    natural self-organization (Springer, Berlin).-   Lendaris G. (1964): “On the Definition of Self-Organizing Systems,”    IEEE Proceedings 52, p. 324-325.-   Nicolis G. and Prigogine I. (1985): Self-Organization in    Non-Equilibrium Systems (Wiley, New York).-   Turing, A. M., (1950): “Computing Machinery and Intelligence,” Mind,    59:433-460, reprinted in E. A. Feigenbaum and J. Feldman eds.    (1960): Computers and Thought (McGraw Hill: N.Y.). See also    http://www.loebner.net/Prizef/TuringArticle.html (Dec. 8, 1998).-   Winston Patrick Henry (1984): Artificial Intelligence, 2nd ed.    (Addison Wesley: Reading Mass.).-   Bigus Joseph P., Bigus Jennifer, and Bigus Joe (2001): Constructing    Intelligent Agents Using Java, 2nd ed. (Wiley: New York).

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to the improvement of online turn-based, browsergames and the social networking activities such as online chat rooms. Amore evolved player community results by applying the principles ofself-organizing systems to a social networking framework.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Turn-based gaming (sometimes known as turn-based strategy) is a term ofart used within the online Internet community. Players agree to a game,set up the initial state of the game, and agree upon a timeout period.Each participant plays in turn according to the game rules. Once eachplayer has taken his or her turn that round of play is over, and anyshared processing is performed. This procedure repeats to the next roundof play. The cycle continues until a winner is declared.

Internet Games

Internet games are games that are played online via the Internet. Theyare distinct from video and computer games in that they are normallyplatform independent, except those games that rely on client-sidetechnologies (often called ‘plug-ins’). Normally, all that is requiredto play Internet games are a web browser and the appropriate plug-in(frequently available for free via the plug-in maker's website). A gameplayed within a browser is often called a browser-based game.

There are many different plug-ins used to play online games. The Javavirtual machine (JVM), Shockwave, and Flash are examples of plug-intechnology. There are specialized tools used to create games employingthese technologies. Games that require plug-ins are usually based on theclient-side; that is, much of the processing is done by the player'scomputer instead of the server hosting the game.

Server-side games occupy the opposite side of the software spectrum.They process game play on a server instead of the player's computer.Server-side games are typically not as visually appealing as client-sidebased games, but easily compensate with more advanced functionality. Theserver can apply complex rules, compute scores, and record all manner ofplayer interactions. Furthermore, it is easier to implement multiplayergames with server software.

Browser Limitations

The elusive goal of online gaming is to create a dynamic, responsiveinterface that allows players to interact as if they were playing cardsat the kitchen table. It is hard to attain the real-time responsivenessone needs to support a social function like chatting with all theadvantages that client-server computing brings. The problem essentiallyboils down to limitations of the Internet as viewed by Web browsers.

Though rich in content and media, the Web tends to be a traditionalone-way broadcast medium, like radio and TV, with the largest number ofpeople being passive information consumers. Sharing or publishinginformation from the client side is another matter. People currently useWeb browsers to find and read information. Publishing information isrelatively rare but the requirements are growing. The rapid acceptanceof web logs indicates need. Web logs (frequently called blogs) follows abulletin board technique where the users post a message to a server thateventually gets added to a common Web page for others to view. Mostonline gaming sites that try to incorporate social networking featureslike chatting adopt a blog approach. Unfortunately, the delays inherentto blogging fall well short of the dynamics of human conversation.

The problem with browsers supporting chat rooms and responsiveserver-side games is the fact that the Web was not designed to supportreal-time, peer-to-peer communication. Web technology essentiallyfollows a pull model. Web browsers send HTTP requests (GET, POST) to theWeb servers and receive contents in response. The model of push feedscontents directly from Web servers to Web clients. RSS, for example, isa push protocol for headline news. Generic push, however, has never cometo be a protocol for the Web. For many people, push went quiet duringthe last few years when systems like Marimba and Castanet disappeared.

Instant messaging (IM) comes closest to approximating human conversationresponsive enough for online games. Web browsers were not designed tosynchronize real-time events and manipulate communication sockets in theway that instant messaging applications do.

Many domain experts have come to the conclusion that Web browsers and IMare incompatible because IM essentially follows a push model. SomeInstant Messaging systems do have browser interfaces. For example, thereis ICQ in Internet Explorer. However, such IM implementations within abrowser are essentially coupling the IM program together with thebrowser via remote-procedural calls from within a specific operatingsystem (Windows, Linux, etc.). They do not operate on, and exchange thecontents and media of, Web browsers.

Self-Organization

The study of order creation within open thermodynamic systems gave riseto the notion of self-organizing systems (SOS) and dissipativestructures [Nicolis and Prigogine, 1989]. Ecology provides illustrationsof how a SOS perspective differs from standard approaches. Scientistsare interested in how spatial and temporal patterns such as patches,boundaries, cycles, and succession arise in complex, heterogeneouscommunities. Early models of pattern formation use a ‘top-down’approach, meaning the parameters describe the higher hierarchical levelsof the system. For instance, individual trees are not describedexplicitly, but patches of trees are. Or predators are modeled as ahomogeneous population that uniformly impacts a homogeneous preypopulation. In this way, the population dynamics are defined at thehigher level of the population, rather than being the results ofactivity at the lower level of the individual [Ashby, 1962; Eigen andSchuster, 1979; Lendaris, 1964].

The problem with this top-down approach is that it violates two basicfeatures of biological (and many physiochemical) phenomena:individuality and locality. Modeling a rodent population as a group ofrodents with some growth and behavior parameters (so-called lumpedparameter models), differences that might exist between individualrodents become ignored. Some are big, some are small, some reproducemore, and some get eaten more. These small differences in themicro-scale can lead to larger differences in the macro-scale. Forexample, changes in the population gene frequencies, individual bodysize, or population densities might have cascading effects at stillhigher levels of organization.

Humans also self-organize information while surfing the Web. Harvestinghyperlinks within HTML pages of interest create valuable informationthan can be further utilized. Google capitalizes on this SOS behavior tocreate high quality Web searches. Hyperlinks to information that havethe high frequency among a world-wide population reveal a measure ofrelevance. Google gages importance of underlying information by findingthe most frequently cited hyperlinks related to a given phrase.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention, a method for creating a systemof self-organizing colonies of players engaged in turn based games andother socialization activities performed within a web browser isprovided. Most web sites catering to online gaming are monolithic innature servicing many thousands up to several million playerssimultaneously. The approach described here partitions the game sitepopulation into distinct colonies with the appropriate activities anddesign such that the players create a community environment. In theaggregate, the total gaming population using the same machinerydescribed here may be in the millions, the size of the individualcolonies will be restricted to a few hundred.

Playing online games and chatting are examples of social networkingactivities; therefore, an invention that combines self-organizingcapabilities to these activities will enhance the social experience.Essentially, the notion becomes a game within a game where the playerschange aspects of the rules governing the site and the games themselves.In particular, tests have demonstrated that game players create theirown distinct communities just as thermodynamic theory predicts.Self-organization in the colonies can become manifested in several ways.Selecting a colony might be based on player characteristics.Possibilities for segregation are:

-   -   Available games        -   games of chance versus strategy        -   card games or board games    -   Competition versus sociability    -   Demographic factors such as age    -   Common interests like sports, hobbies, or politics    -   Referral based membership    -   Paid versus free membership        Players can adjust the rules of the colonies. Possible examples:    -   Maximum time between turns    -   Specific game rules or variations in games    -   Tournament rules    -   Available shops/portals/blogs    -   Maximum number of players allowed within a game room    -   Limits on player behavior        The ability to fashion online communities represents a powerful        attraction to Internet users. The game play becomes more        intimate where users get to know each other as in any other        social club.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic of the invention comprising of a web server, animage server, and a database server transferring chat room content to aplurality of client web browsers.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of a world map that provides a gateway to aplurality of settlements and colonies that self-organize.

FIG. 3 is a schematic of the components supporting a self-organizingcolony comprising of desktop, colony map, avatar controls, messagingsystem, and rules engine.

FIG. 4 is a screen shot of the user's desktop.

FIG. 5 is a schematic illustrating how the desktop provides access to aplurality of game rooms.

FIG. 6 is a screen shot of a typical game room environment.

FIG. 7 is a screen shot of a colony map.

FIG. 8 is a schematic illustrating how the colony map provides access toa plurality of chat room environments.

FIG. 9 is a screen shot of a chat room environment that includesavatars, a virtual conference room, the message input field, and ascrolled chat session transcript.

FIGS. 10 a, 10 b, and 10 c are three screen shots demonstrating thesequence of events for avatar movement: a) entering a chat room, b)examining available locations for movement within said chat room, and c)executing a move to the selected location.

FIGS. 11 a and 11 b are two screen shots illustrating how the virtualenvironment can be populated with new objects such as adding furnitureto a house scenario.

FIGS. 12 a and 12 b are two screen shots illustrating an avatarshopping: a) within a chat-enabled furniture store, b) reviewingtransactions of said purchases to include spit-screen views of a bankaccount and a store's pricing catalog.

FIG. 13 is a screen shot of a chat room environment with game play thatincludes a mixture avatars and chatbots.

FIGS. 14 a and 14 b are two screen shots of the interface forcustomizing avatars.

FIG. 15 is a screen shot of a visual rolodex that maps the avatarspecifications to individual users.

FIGS. 16 a and 16 b are screen shots demonstrating the two step processof posting a private note to another player.

FIGS. 17 a and 17 b are screen shots demonstrating the two step processof reading a public note.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 is a diagram that describes the software architecture of thissystem. The system includes components on the server side 100 and theclient side 101. The server side components comprise of a databaseserver 102, a web server 103, and an image server 104. The diagramrepresents software functionality as opposed to physical computerhardware. The server-side components could reside on a single computerrunning all three software services or split across two or threecomputers linked by an intranet. The database 102 stores informationregarding the state of game and chat environments. Typically, this datais stored in SQL relational tables. The database server also storessettings of self-organizing rules, player information, and playermessages. The web server 103 provides the communication linkage to aplurality of client browsers 101 by way of the Internet 106 via anetwork protocol such as HTTP or HTTPS. The image server 104 transformsand composites image combinations. These combinations include the gameroom graphics, avatars, conversation balloons, non-avatar objects, andchat room backgrounds and foregrounds.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of a world map 200 that provides a gateway toa plurality of settlements 201 and colonies 202 that self-organize.Users within their web browsers 105 view the world map 200 which is anHTML image map. The server 103 directs users to the appropriate onlinecommunities when they activate icons or hot spots on the map. In FIG. 2,a settlement icon 203 and a colony icon 204 serves up the settlement andcolony environments, respectively. The distinction between a settlementand a colony is that the former is early in the process ofself-organizing. Settlements are pre-colonies that eventually transforminto distinct colonies.

Individual users can become members of more than one colony. Each memberhas a home colony, but they can move between colonies through passports(permissions granted within the database server).

FIG. 3 is a schematic of the components supporting a self-organizingcolony comprising of desktop 301, colony map 302, avatar controls 305,messaging system 306, and rules engine 307. The desktop 301 provides agateway to a plurality of game rooms 303. Similarly, the colony map 302provides a gateway to a plurality of chat rooms 304. Users can customizethe visual characteristics of their avatars using the avatar control 305component. The self-organizing colonies support integrated messagingcapabilities throughout the environments such as the desktop 301, thegame rooms 303, and the chat rooms 304. The messaging system 306supports both electronic mail [Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) touser's external e-mail addresses] 308 and instant messaging 309. Therules engine 307 is the module that allows users to impose theircollective preferences into the online self-organizing colonyenvironment 202. The preference information is stored in the database102. The effect of the parameter settings and modified rules governinguser behavior are what provides each colony 202 its unique character. Tocontinue the metaphor of local government, the rules engine and itssettings are like local laws or ordinances enacted to govern behavior ofits citizens.

A screen shot of the user's desktop 301 is shown in FIG. 4. This screenforms the center of the gaming environment within a self-organizingcolony 202. The games currently available are shown as icons on thedesktop. For example, one enters the backgammon game room by activatingthe icon image of a backgammon board and dice 400. Each game icon on thedesktop is associated with a specific game room 303. FIG. 5 is aschematic illustrating how the desktop 301 provides access to aplurality of game rooms 303. The icons are arranged in a mannerresembling a car dashboard. Underneath each game icon is the number ofturns awaiting the player in open boards of that particular game type.As an illustration, in this sample screen shot, the icon label 412 showsthat the user has one turn among five active boards within the Gold Cardgame room.

The desktop 301 is active in the sense that views within each browser105 changes dynamically without reloading the entire HTML page. Forexample, the icon label 412 will change within the affected user'sbrowser 105 when the turn information requires updating. Themethodology, commonly called Ajax, involves embedding certain Javascriptconstructs such as (XMLHttpRequest objects within game boards and insidechat room interfaces. The Javascript can both send and receive XMLmessages which allows for a duplex communication channel. The net effectis asynchronous communication between a client browser and a Web server.In other words, with the web flow engine, online games and chat roomssupport a push from within a client browser.

The Waiting Room 401 is like a game room except here users post theirpreferences for games they desire to play. Other users can enter thatroom and claim game challenges. Button controls include Refresh 402, FAQ(Frequently Asked Questions) 403, Help 404, and Logout 405. Refreshactivates the HTTP request to the web server 103 to reload the HTMLpage. FAQ loads HTML instructions with overview questions and answers toassist new users. Help activates game rules in effect with thisparticular colony. Logout eliminates a user from the active list andreturns a validation screen to re-login at a future time.

To the right of the game icons is a Who's Online region 406 and PointLeaders region 407. These scrollable windows list of game playerspresently active and the game point leaders of this colony,respectively. The lower part of the desktop 301 addresses the messagingsystem 306. Private Notes 408 on the lower right involve instantmessaging between two users within the colony. Public Notes 410 on thelower left allow users to both post and view general interest commentsor announcements to a bulletin board. These Public Notes are visible toeveryone in a colony. The user's desktop 301 also includes hisassociated avatar image 411 and other cumulative statistics related tothat user such as points earned during the month, total points, balance,and the like.

The colony map 302 is activated when users activate the colony map icon409 (shown here for colony “Atlantis”) on the desktop 301. This screenforms the center of the role-playing activities within a self-organizingcolony 202. The function of the colony map is to provide access to thevarious chat rooms 304. FIG. 7 is a screen shot of a typical colony map.For example, activating the “Shop 1” icon 700 allows a user to enter astorefront chat room 304 like the one shown in FIG. 8.

FIG. 6 is a screen shot of a typical game room environment. Althoughthis particular illustration involves backgammon, the look and feelremains the same for all of the game rooms. On the right is the gameboard 600. This is where players make their moves for a specific gamewith an opponent. Each game has its own unique characteristics formaking moves which depend on context and state of the game. Captured inthis instance are a Roll Dice button 601 and a current scoreboardmarquee 602. On the left is the Open Games region 605 that indicates theactive games within the backgammon game room 303. Three games are shownhere with three different opponents. A line highlighted in bold 604signals that it is the user's turn for the game indicated. In thisinstance, the user's turn awaits in a backgammon game with ‘mutt’ thathas a timeout set for October 4th. Game Notes 603 is the portion of theinterface were two players can view and send notes posted to each otherregarding this particular game board 600. After a player has taken histurns and posted/read the various Game Notes 603 within the game room303, activating the Close button 606 returns focus back to the desktop301.

FIG. 8 is an illustration of the web server 101 supporting differenttypes of chat rooms providing environmental context. Most any virtualspace in which participants can interactively communicate and meet witheach other can become a chat room. Potential meeting places could be anoffice, a house, a lounge, a hospital, or a museum. A storefront chatroom 304 is one example shown in FIG. 8.

An enlarged view of a chat room is shown in FIG. 9. The environmentshown here is a typical conference room 900 with multiple participants.The avatar labeled ‘mitch’ 908 corresponds to a user who entered theconference chat room 900 through interactions with his client browser105. An avatar is a graphical image representation of a user interactingwithin a chat room environment. The Names button 905 toggles the avatarname plates 909 with its associated user for easy identification. Theserver software 100 records the coming and going of avatars into a chatroom, movement within a chat room, conversations between avatars, andscenario changes as described later. The composite of all theinformation described above is used to generate a chat room scene suchas the one shown in FIG. 9. Here, three users are interacting togetherwhile viewing the same common chat room view 900 rendered in theirrespective client browsers 105.

When avatars engage in conversation, text appears within a balloon 907in a fashion resembling comic books. The user inputs his remarks througha scrollable text widget 903. After inputting those text remarks, thechat snippet is sent by activating the “Post” button 902 to forward theinformation to the web server 101. The web server processes thisinformation and displays the results into the common chat room image. Itpositions a balloon containing those remarks over the avatarrepresenting the user who sent them. Each avatar can send comments inconversational form and the balloons adjust accordingly. The imageserver 104 adjusts the optimal placement of the balloons to make viewingthe entire conversation between avatars possible. It avoids overlappingballoons and will truncate as needed. In addition to balloon text, aconversation transcript is recorded in the message log region 901.

Text balloons are ephemeral to mimic spoken conversation between humans.The server side software 100 removes the balloons after a set period oftime by way of a software timer. Text balloons with a shelf-life givesthe invention special appeal beyond typical comic book presentations.For humans in real life to participate in conversation, they must bethere to witness it. Similarly, the software in accordance with thepresent invention imposes the same dynamic on users represented asavatars. Users can see and experience the specific conversations withina chat room only if they were viewing it in real time. In other words,the avatars/users have to be in the chat room at the time the eventstranspire in order to share the experience.

The message log 901 records the time, avatar identifier, and chat textat the same time the balloons appear within the chat room scene. Theselines do not disappear in the same manner as the balloons. After a setnumber of lines are recorded, but oldest lines are scrolled out of view.The message log 901 helps users who read slowly or like to catch up onconversations while they were momentarily distracted. There arealternate embodiments of this invention where a full and completetranscript is recorded to be read by others who were not witnessing theevents in real time. Chat Rooms used for depositions, court proceedings,business conferences, town hall meetings are examples where the additionof a permanent record proves useful. In such instances, the message log901 becomes a scrollable text widget (not shown) and the database 102tables are modified to store all the chat text traffic for a given chatsession.

FIGS. 10 a, 10 b, and 10 c are three screen shots demonstrating thesequence of events for avatar movement. FIG. 10 a displays an avatarentering a chat room. Typically, a user navigates to a specific chatroom through the colony map 302. FIG. 7 is a typical example whichillustrates a “Shop 1” icon 700. Activating this icon or others withinthe HTML image map, fires a popup window containing the associated chatroom 304. The act of entering a chat room is recorded in the message logregion 903. When a user triggers the “Move” button 904, the chat roomwill display available movement locations (or “hot spots”) within a chatroom as shown in FIG. 10 b. An avatar can move to “Chair 4” 1001 sincethe spot is available (not currently occupied with another avatar). Auser activating this hot spot 1001 executes the avatar movement as shownin FIG. 10 c. The avatar moved to the chair and assumed a sittingposture 1002.

Avatar activity is not necessarily the only dynamic components in a chatroom environment. The screen shot in FIG. 11 a illustrates a sparsehouse interior as if the occupant had just started decorating. Theinterior shown in FIG 11 b is populated with additional furniture.Another embodiment of this invention is to add, remove, alter, and/ortransform the contents of a chat room using the same technique ofasynchronous, event-driven Javascript communication employed fordisplaying avatar movement and conversation balloons. The screen shot inFIG. 12 a illustrates an avatar shopping within a chat-enabled furniturestore. One item on the showroom floor is a bed 1200. FIG. 12 billustrates a user reviewing transactions of his bed purchase to includespit-screen views of a bank account and a store's pricing catalog.

Avatars do not necessarily represent actual human players in all cases.An alternate embodiment of the instant invention is to have avataractivity supported by server side software components 100 directly.Automated avatars that can conduct software-driven chatting arefrequently called chatbots. FIG. 13 is a screen shot of a chat roomenvironment with game play that includes a mixture avatars and chatbots.Chatbots can be used for answering routine questions, targetedadvertising, and adding ambiance to a given chat room. For example, thecashier 1003 in FIG. 10 a is a chatbot who welcomes customers as theyenter, takes their orders, announces specials of the day, and the like.Chatbots can readily interact with human-driven avatars using standardAI techniques such as variations of the Eliza program.¹¹Eliza is the best known Artificial Intelligence program in the world.It is also one of the oldest. Created in the early 1960's by MITscientist Joseph Weizenbaum and named after Eliza Doolittle, its missionwas to attempt to replicate the conversation between a psychoanalyst anda patient. The origins of the “imitation game” actually date back to thevery beginnings of computer theory with Alan Turing (1950).

FIG. 13 illustrates another embodiment of the invention that offersadditional ways for players to interact with a game whileself-organizing within a chat room. In this instance, players aredividing themselves into teams to compete in a trivia game. The triviaquestion 1301 (which can include in-game advertising related to thequestion) appears within the confines of the chat room 304. In otherwords, this embodiment combines gaming with chat (or other similarsocial activities) using positioning around tables to organize the teamstructure.

FIGS. 14 a and 14 b are two screen shots of the interface forcustomizing avatars. The user can select from a palettes of features andaccessories using tabs. Examples include head shape, eyes, nose, mouth,hair, and clothing. The combinatorics of the options allow for a hugenumber of possibilities. FIG. 15 is a screen shot of a visual rolodex413 that maps the avatar specifications to individual users within acolony. It serves to illustrate how avatars become just as visuallyunique as the players themselves.

FIGS. 16 a and 16 b are screen shots demonstrating the two step processof posting a Private Note to another player. Activating a user's IDanywhere within the site brings up the associated Player Card 1601.Selecting the name ‘mick’ 1600 within the Who's Online region 406demonstrate one example of this technique. An alternate method would beto use the rolodex 413. The Player Card 1601 opens a popup window withthe Compose Note tab 1602 on top. The user adds text to the Subjecttextbox 1603 and the Message scrolling textbox 1604. Activating the PostNote button 1605 sends a private note to the player associated with thatparticular card. In the alternative, a private e-mail (using theplayer's e-mail address provided during registration) is sent byactivating the Send E-mail button 1606.

FIGS. 17 a and 17 b are screen shots demonstrating the two step processof reading a Public Note. The process is analogous to sending a messagedescribed above. In the Public Notes region 410, one can read messagesof general interest in the Group Notes tab 1700. Selecting a specificmessage 1701 activates the Player Card 1703 open to the View Note tab1703.

The rules engine 307 in FIG. 3 forms the heart of the self-organizingcolony. The parameters and operational characteristics that govern how agiven colony 202 runs day to day are recorded and acted upon by therules engine. From a software point of view, the rules engine is acontroller object within the server-side software 100. Each colonystarts off with default settings as settlements 201. Preferences,attachments, and other behavior develop as players interact. Thepreferred embodiment of this invention combines the games, role-playing,and socialization aspects of the online community. Players of eachcolony record their preferences through periodic elections or polls ortown hall meetings (chat room activity). Town officials from themembership are elected who have limited permissions such as the abilityto moderate the Public Notes 410, suspend specific user activities, andthe like. Capturing user preferences through colony participation is thepreferred method of self-organizing.

The rules engine 307 applies the aggregate preferences to the dynamicsof a given colony's operation. As an illustration, Colony 1 may become acompetitive gaming site where most of the games might be strategyoriented and the timeouts are relatively short. The number of chat roomsmay be few. Instead, Colony 1 focuses its resources on points, tourneys,and tournaments. In the alternative, Colony 2 may be more relaxed withmore games of chance and generous timeouts. The bulk of peoples' timemight be devoted to chatting resulting in more chat room environments.The ability for the structure of colonies to change based on user inputshould generate a diverse universe of colony types.

Alternate embodiments of this invention is to employ rules engines basedon sophisticated software technology such as expert systems, data miningof user participation, and machine learning. In other words, the rulesengine can adapt to user participation patterns. The rules engine maytune its rules by analyzing player interactions with the site. Forexample, if a specific game seems to have fallen out of favor, thecolony's rules engine may substitute another game of a different type.These changes can be in addition to direct user input or completelybased on anecdotal evidence or any weighting of the two.

This invention does not lay claim to inventing the technology for rulesengines per se. There are many references to rules engine constructionfor all manner of experiments in artificial intelligence research[Henry, 1984; Bigus, 2001]. This invention improves social networkingand game play through the application of rules engines in creatingself-organizing colonies.

This invention relates to the improvement of online turn-based, browsergames and the social networking activities such as online chat rooms. Amore evolved player community results by applying the principles ofself-organizing systems to the gaming framework.

CONCLUSIONS, RAMIFICATIONS, AND SCOPE

This invention encompasses building social networks of people usingself-organizing system software. Examples of social networks includeplaying turn-based games and communicating (chat, e-mail, messaging,etc.). The encapsulated idea is to build communities from the bottom upinstead of the top down. By way of comparison, most popular Internetcompanies like Yahoo, MySpace, and Pogo (Electronic Arts) build theirmembership from the top down. Their user communities ultimately grow toolarge to sustain cohesiveness. Observations of actual biologicalcommunities form the basis of self-organization theory; consequently,employing a more natural approach to human behavior should provesuperior.

A compact disc has been included with the specification. It containsworking software that demonstrates the functionality described above.The software application already generates commercial revenue. Asexpected, new users have noted the uniqueness of the approach describedhere compared to other alternatives currently available on the Internet.Members pay to play games and chat using this invention on multiplecolonies of up to 500 members each.

Although the description above contains many specificities, these shouldnot be construed as limiting the scope of the invention but as merelyproviding illustrations of some of the presently preferred embodimentsof this invention. Thus the scope of the invention should be determinedby the appended claims and their legal equivalents, rather than by theexamples given.

1. A method for managing online user community comprising of: (a)providing asynchronous access to social networking activities viewed onclient software connecting said population to a plurality of computeservers, (b) regulating said activities by means of a rules engine thatcontrols interactions among a user membership, (c) adapting rules ofsaid engine based on user preferences or behaviors captured over time,whereby users self-organize into a cohesive, stable population. 2.Asynchronous access of claim 1 wherein comprises of communicationbetween a plurality of client devices and online servers by means of XMLmessaging to Javascript objects.
 3. Social networking activities ofclaim 1 wherein are selected from the group consisting of game rooms,chat rooms, and combination game/chat rooms populated with a pluralityof avatars and chatbots.
 4. Users self-organize of claim 1 wherein bymeans of software that compiles user preferences into rules that governthe user community's operational characteristics.
 5. The method ofcompiling user preferences set forth of claim 4 wherein may be gatheredfrom users directly by polling or indirectly through statisticalanalysis of user behavior.
 6. The term online of claim 1 whereingenerally extends to all communication by means of network protocolsbetween a compute server and consumer electronic devices to include IPtelevision, voice over IP, and wireless/mobile devices.
 7. Clientsoftware of claim 1 wherein generally extends to include any devicesoftware, such as a Web browser, that transfers information to and fromsaid servers by means communication protocols.